DEUT809 While “there will never cease to be needy ones in your land,” we are not permitted to sit back and apathetically let that situation persist. Hence Deuteronomy 15:11 continues: “which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.” Judaism has accepted the continuous nature of the problem of poverty but is anything but fatalistic about it. On the contrary, in both theory and practice Jews have assumed throughout history that it is within our ability to provide for the poor and that it is our sacred task to do so. In this, all of the Jewish convictions described in the first section of this chapter play a role, but perhaps the fundamental, underlying principle is the dignity of the human being created in the image of God. Fulfilling the duty to care for the poor makes it possible for a fellow human being and perhaps a fellow Jew to escape the slavery of poverty and live as a respected member of the community, thereby gaining the status of free individuals that we all need and deserve. Preventing poverty and honorably assisting the poor are nothing short of holy activities. In making these aims our priority, we act as human beings should and imitate no less an exemplar than God: “If your kinsmen, being in straits, comes under your authority... let him live by your side as your kinsman. ... I the Lord am your God who brought you out from the land of the Egyptians to be their slaves no more, who broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.” (Leviticus 25:35-36 and 26:13).